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Latham, New York-based Plug Power isn't content with just
decarbonizing forklifts with its patented hydrogen fuel cells at
big box stores like Walmart or Home Depot or mammoth data
centers.
The company is now eyeing the skies to demonstrate that
renewable energy-sourced, green hydrogen produced at its own
facilities can be used safely and cleanly in fuel cells to power
the two propellers of regional airplanes.
Armed with green hydrogen fuel cells from Plug Power and
electric motors from MagniX, Los Angeles-based Universal Hydrogen
is developing a 2-MW powertrain for retrofitting regional
turboprop-powered aircraft.
Compared with kerosene, a petroleum product currently used in
regional turboprop planes, fuel cells are cleaner because they
generate power through an electrochemical reaction rather than
combustion. When powered with hydrogen, their only exhaust is water
rather than CO2 and other pollutants.
The goal of both Plug Power and Universal Hydrogen is to test
this retrofitted engine in either a de Havilland Canada Dash 8-300
or an ATR 42 aircraft that can carry between 40-60 passengers up to
about 700 miles. The ATR 42 is made by a joint venture between
Airbus and Leonardo, Avoins Transports Regionales.
A successful demonstration in 2023 and a commercial flight in
2025 will bring Plug Power CEO Andy Marsh closer to his vision of
supplanting carbon-intensive applications with clean, green
hydrogen-powered substitutes. But that's not where his ambitions
end.
Decarbonizing airports
Marsh told investors during a 21 June call that he not only
wants airplanes to be run on Plug Power fuel cells but also wants
the vans, off-road forklifts, and other ground-support equipment
plying the airports to be similarly powered.
"I think there's large opportunities across the board to
decarbonize our airports," Marsh told investors.
The company has already made inroads in powering forklifts with
its hydrogen fuel cell technology, and it's moving into data
centers and light-duty commercial vans. It sees additional
near-term opportunities in France, Germany, and South Korea, Marsh
said.
Marsh is convinced that hydrogen will be "a most significant
player" in the aviation sector, which was responsible for nearly 1
gigaton, or 2.8%, of global GHG emissions in 2019, according to the
International Energy Agency.
For "very, very short distances," battery-powered aircraft will
work, but hydrogen will be the choice of fuel for regional aircraft
and translantic ones in a decarbonized economy, Marsh said.
"I think [hydrogen] will grow gradually between 2025 and 2035.
And then I think by 2035, it may start having certainly a dominant
position for all new planes coming off the line," Marsh added.
Lion's share of zero-emission aircraft
Some analysts like Portland, Oregon-based Allied Market Research
(AMR) are optimistic about the prospects for hydrogen-fueled
aircraft.
Hydrogen-fueled aircraft are expected to account for 94% of the
global zero-emission aircraft market of about $29.24 billion in
2030, AMR wrote in a 12 July report. The research group says
the global market could reach nearly $192 billion by 2040.
"This is attributed to its high suitability as an aviation
fuel," AMR wrote. Solar-powered aircraft will be a major
alternative zero-emissions technology, it said.
Like AMR, Alex Klaessig, IHS Markit Senior Director for Hydrogen
and Renewable Gas Forum, observed that hydrogen "looms large" in
the zero-emissions aviation space, with a significant weight
advantage over battery electrification.
"We've seen a number of original equipment manufacturers getting
into this space, with Europe's Sustainable Aviation Fuel targets
and California's goals being near-term drivers," he added.
AMR said technological challenges associated with solar,
electric, and hydrogen-powered aircraft, as well as high costs
associated with the production and handling of hydrogen are the
factors that are expected to restrain the growth of the
zero-emission aircraft market during the forecast period.
To date, the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) said,
several factors still hinder the potential for use of hydrogen in
commercial flights, such as on-board storage, safety concerns, the
high cost of producing the fuel, and the need for dedicated
infrastructure at airports.
Need for renewable hydrogen
To be carbon-neutral though, the hydrogen used in aircraft must
be produced with renewable energy, which is the goal Plug Power,
ZeroAvia, plus established aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus,
are striving for.
However, Universal Hydrogen believes it has found a solution not
only for using renewable hydrogen but also for transporting it in
the form of easily movable modular capsules or pods.
Source: Universal Hydrogen
"We have designed a retrofit package for existing regional
aircraft that replaces kerosene-burning engines with an integrated
package. This will enable the longest-range, zero-carbon aircraft
to be in service by 2025," Jason Chua, Universal Hydrogen
co-founder and chief strategy & product officer, told Net-Zero
Business Daily.
The retrofit package, or the conversion kit, consists of a
redesigned powertrain for regional aircraft capable of using Plug
Power fuel cells as well as the modular pods to store liquid
hydrogen that Universal Hydrogen has designed so they can be stored
at the back of a plane or removed for transportation for
reprocessing and reuse. These capsules are connected to the fuel
cells via piping.
Source: Universal Hydrogen
To date, Universal Hydrogen and Plug Power say they have tested a sub-scale version of the redesigned
powertrain on land using a 30-kW Plug Power fuel cell for the
purpose. And Chua said the company is in the process of testing
progressively scalable powertrains between now and 2025 while it
gathers relevant test data to confirm technical and economic
viability and secures various regulatory approvals and
certifications.
By September, Plug Power plans to deliver 14 125-kW fuel cells
to Universal Hydrogen, which will then incorporate them into a 2-MW
powertrain prototype for ground testing and demonstration this year
and next.
Airline interest piqued
Universal Hydrogen has already started signing letters of intent
with airlines in Europe and the US that want to reduce their carbon
footprint.
On July 14, Universal Hydrogen received commitments from
regional air carriers Icelandair Group, Valencia,
Spain-based Air Nostrum, and Alaska-based
Ravn Alaska to purchase the
company's conversion kits.
Air Nostrum said it would purchase 11, while Ravn's commitment
extends to five such kits.
Icelandair, unlike Air Nostrum and Ravn Alaska,
has not committed to purchasing a specific number of conversion
kits for its domestic fleet. Rather, the airline said its letter of
intent marks the "the first step of an ambitious multilateral
initiative," which requires working with Icelandic hydrogen
producers, transportation companies, and airports to create a green
hydrogen value chain.
According to Universal Hydrogen, the letter of intent does not
specify whether Icelandair will source its green hydrogen using
hydropower or geothermal, but that is part of the initiative.
Iceland generated 19 billion kWh of power in 2019, of which
68.4% came from hydropower facilities, and the rest mostly from
geothermal sources, according to the US Energy Information
Administration.
Competition is in the air
Plug Power and Universal Hydrogen are not the only companies
that are trying to commercialize hydrogen-fueled technology for
aircraft.
Another US company, ZeroAvia is expecting to debut a 19-seat passenger plane powered by
hydrogen fuel cells mounted in a 600-kw powertrain as early as
2023, and has raised $37.7 million for the project. This comprises
$16.3 million from the UK government and about $21.4 million from a
host of backers including Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures,
Amazon Climate Pledge, and Shell Ventures.
ZeroAvia's demonstration project, which involves a partnership
with British Airways, will be part of HyFlyer II, the second
ZeroAvia-led project backed by the UK.
The company already is credited with demonstrating the world's
first hydrogen fuel cell-powered flight of a commercial six-seater
Piper Malibu airplane at Cranfield airport in the UK in September
2020.
Commercial aircraft next
Meanwhile, industry behemoth Airbus is eyeing hydrogen to fuel
commercial trans-Atlantic flights by 2035. It already has unveiled
three concepts for its ZEROe aircraft that would be powered by a
combination of hydrogen-powered fuel cells and combustion engines
that burn hydrogen gas.
The French aircraft manufacturer also recognizes that
decarbonizing the aviation sector will require a change in how
airports, aircraft, and related equipment are designed if their
traditional reliance on fossil fuels is to decrease.
An airport right now requires ground transportation to shuttle
passengers to and from aircraft, aircraft tugs, and cargo trucks,
and fuel is needed to cool and heat the buildings. Traditionally,
these vehicles and buildings have consumed fossil fuels, but Airbus
said the use of renewable electricity-derived hydrogen can reduce
the "15-20 megatons of CO2" that are emitted each year from
airports.
"Airports have a key role to enable the transition to a
climate-neutral air transport ecosystem," Lionel Cousseins, ZEROe
market development and airlines relations manager, said on the
company's website.
To achieve its goal of adopting hydrogen by 2035, Airbus
launched a Hydrogen Hub at Airports
initiative in 2020 that enables it to collaborate with airlines
to study how this transition can occur.
Airbus has signed memoranda of agreements with SAS Scandinavian Airlines and
easyjet to assess airport infrastructure needs for accommodating
electric, hydrogen, and hybrid aircraft in the future. Both studies
are due out by the year's end. It also is working in partnership
with ADP and Air Liquide to better understand hydrogen
infrastructure needs at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Airport and Paris
Orly Airport.
Sustainable aviation fuel
But that's not all. Airbus is looking at other uses of hydrogen
in the manufacturing of sustainable aviation fuels, or fuels that
don't have a carbon-intensive footprint. On 15 July, Airbus signed an agreement with the
Montreal-based SAF+ Consortium to produce a Power-to-Liquid (PtL)
sustainable aviation fuel at a pilot plant near the city.
The PtL product is an e-fuel, or a fuel generated exclusively
via renewables, that will be made from CO2 captured from nearby
industrial sources and hydrogen sourced from renewables.
SAF+ is a group of Quebec companies working in the field of
sustainable fuel production involving carbon capture and using
green hydrogen produced in Quebec. The goal of the consortium,
which includes Air Transat and Aéroports de Montréal, is to produce
an aviation fuel that has an 80% lower carbon footprint than
conventional jet fuel. Hydro-Québec, which is the largest producer
and distributor of hydropower in North America, has joined the
consortium as an observer.
Hydro-Québec is already responsible for providing 99% of the
renewable power for Air Liquide's electrolyzer facility in
Bécancour, Quebec, which generates about 20 MW of power from
splitting water molecules, while producing 8.2 mt/day of
hydrogen.
Hydropower role
Hydropower also will be the renewable electricity source for two
of Plug Power's green hydrogen plants. Having access to a steady
supply of green hydrogen is critical for decarbonization, Marsh told Net-Zero Business Daily in
June, and the ICAO agrees.
According to the ICAO, substituting jet fuel with electricity
and hydrogen can have "a notable impact" on the carbon footprint of
aviation. "However, it is important to note that such CO2 benefits
need to be considered on a lifecycle basis, and will only occur if
the electric energy or hydrogen is obtained from lower carbon
sources," it said.
In February, Plug Power announced it would construct a
production facility in Latham that would be able to produce 45
mt/day of green liquid hydrogen using electrolyzers fueled by
hydropower.
The company also plans to generate 10 mt/day of green hydrogen
in Pennsylvania with Brookfield Renewables using
hydropower, and on 15 July it announced a 345-MW wind power
purchase agreement with Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy for a
green hydrogen production facility that will be built next to a
wind farm at a location yet to be determined.
"The [wind] plant will be co-located, and we anticipate the
[green hydrogen] plant to be in production by an end of 2022-early
2023 time frame," Plug Power spokesman Roberto Friedlander, told
Net-Zero Business Daily 22 July.
By the end of the year, Plug Power expects to produce 120 mt/day
of green hydrogen. In the meantime, the company is negotiating with
various hydrogen producing companies to meet the burgeoning needs
for its clients that its own production has not been able to meet,
according to Marsh.
Where securing additional hydrogen for new capacity is
concerned, Frielander said "we are negotatiating this as we
speak."
He noted that Linde has just brought a 35 mt/day plant online in
La Porte, Texas, while Air Liquide is also planning to bring its 30
mt/day online in Nevada.
Plug Power's goal is to have 500 mt/day of green hydrogen in
production by 2025 when the regional planes equipped with the
company's fuel cells enter service.
--Updated with extra details about Plug Power's hydrogen
supply.
Posted 23 July 2021 by Amena Saiyid, Senior Climate and Energy Research Analyst